The first thing about fight club is...

I have a bunch of other things that I've been meaning to write about... never got around to them yet, because knowing me, nothing is ever a short story. Instead I had a knee jerk reaction this evening with said movie "Fight Club." It would be the first time I saw this movie.

Fate, destiny, whatever; something was written in the sky that I would see this movie today. I would not know that the threads of fate had caught me and invisible hands would be guiding me. It all started with soap. Ah yes... soap.

A few days ago, I took a shower in my dorm (no, that is not to say that I do not shower daily). I don't particulary enjoy showering in the dorm but it is a somewhat necessary evil (I have a gym subscription that include a very, very nice japanese bath that I use instead from time to time... hell, that is my motivation to exercise sometimes). I left my bottle of shampoo and my soap case in the shower room. One day later, it would seem that my soap and shampoo has been tossed into some indiscriminate watse bin that I will never see. Fear not, I have a refill of Pantene Pro V in my room and 2 extra bars of soap. All I need was a soap dish and a cheap $2 bottle with pump to recitfy this problem, and so I did after running into the Japanese dollar store in the afternoon.

I went to classes, the afternoon waned into evening; I taught english afterwards and the evening turned to night. I returned home to unpack my backpack with said goods.


My bar of soap in a bamboo soap dish


And this was my desk right before I poured my shampoo into my newly acquired bottle

Moments before I can grab my scissors to open up the bag and pour the contents of shampoo into my bottle. I am called away by friends to watch Fight Club. It is the soap conspiring against me I tell you. Really, I'm not crazy; fitting that I should watch this movie.

The movie blew my mind, or in the case of Tyler Durden, his mouth. How do I describe this movie? The closest thing I can think of is a girl playing mind games on a boy. The story starts with the ending. It skips and jumps you but are forced to watch and listen. Nothing makes sense, but you are enthralled; and so, you are paralyzed. The movie is beyond mental manipulation, even after you realize it; you fight but you are still helplessly tricked. It is a cruel, ruthless power; I dream of controlling it... (I pity the students I used to teach; how I used to trick them with false answers and without them knowing they grew an intellectual backbone. I did what some of their professors failed to do-- I made them *think*).

So now I have returned to my room. My empty bottle of soap still sits on my desk. The fates are in the sky, laughing at their wonderful joke. It is 1:30 am now and it soon time for me to sleep. Will I fall asleep to awaken another person? I can't help but think as I gaze at my bed. Cruel trick indeed.

Goodnight.